The announcement that an ALP Federal Government would provide incentives supporting the uptake of electric vehicles in Australia has been welcomed by Australia’s peak automotive body, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.
“It is refreshing that we can now start to have meaningful discussion about increasing the number of low emission vehicles on our roads and the subsequent improvement to our national environmental performance, customer choice and communities through this technology,” FCAI Chief Executive Tony Weber said.
“Australia is lagging the rest of the world when it comes to a long-term vision for the continued penetration of low emission vehicles. The automotive sector has seen around the world that strong signals around targets, good infrastructure policy and incentives from national governments contribute to positive outcomes on low emission vehicle introduction.
“The ALP announcement gets the topic back onto the policy agenda and that is critical right now. Positive signals like this can encourage global car brands to increase the choice of low emission vehicles available in our market which in turn increases the adoption of electrified vehicles available to customers.
“We will be pleased to work alongside any government in their efforts to introduce positive policy directions for the increase of the best technology vehicles that are available to Australians.”
Mr Weber added that in the absence of direction and targets from the Federal Government, the FCAI and its members introduced its own Voluntary CO2 Emissions Standard targets for 2030 and reported for the first time last week.
“The automotive sector is ready and willing to participate when it comes to a direction on emissions reduction and the adoption of world’s best vehicle technology. I encourage all policy makers across the country to work with the industry so our market for zero and low emission vehicles matches the rest of the world rather than being a distant follower,” Mr Weber said.